


Granted

by Cedar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dark, Death Eaters, Drama, Second War with Voldemort, The Quidditch Pitch: Darkness Falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-21
Updated: 2008-02-21
Packaged: 2018-10-27 09:49:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10806690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cedar/pseuds/Cedar
Summary: Draco's badly mixed potion sends all of Hogwarts into an evil alternate reality.





	Granted

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).
> 
> **Author's notes:**
> 
> This fic is a retelling of the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called "The Wish." You don't have to know the episode in order to read this fic. If you'd like to read a recap of the episode, you can find one [here](http://televisionwithoutpity.com/portal/site/TelevisionWithoutPity/menuitem.766266d5c663f366b180b41045001d30/?vgnextoid=54d609140e2a2110VgnVCM1000006dc1d240RCRD&vgnextfmt=default&ShowName=Buffy+the+Vampire+Slayer&currentPage=1)
> 
>  
> 
>  

**Granted**

"I wish," Draco said to Ted Nott as he idly stirred his Desidario Draught clockwise with the tip of his wand, "that Slughorn had a Memory Charm backfire just right and he forgot to assign our homework for the rest of the year." He knew the potion he was making could never grant a wish so complicated. It was really only good for things like conjuring extra quills, or maybe some sweets if you really had a craving for them. But it was nice to think about.

Ted laughed. "I wish Slughorn _and_ McGonagall _and_ Flitwick would have Memory Charms backfire and forget to assign our homework for the rest of the year."

Draco smiled and nodded in response. "Mmm. That would be nice." His arm was tiring and he started stirring counterclockwise. "You know what else I wish?" His wand made one complete circle around the edge of the cauldron.

"What's that?"

Two complete circles.

As Draco started tracing the third circle he replied, "I wish Harry Potter had never come to Hogwarts."

When he completed the third circle, his cauldron exploded.

There was a flash of pale blue light. White smoke surrounded Draco as he was thrown backwards across the lab. He choked and gasped, flattening himself to the floor in an attempt to find breathable air. Students shrieked around him but their voices seemed miles away. He smelled something burning that reeked of sulfur. He found that odd; there were no sulfurous ingredients in his potion. Moments later, Slughorn could be heard through the fog.

"It's all right, all right, everyone's fine. Is anyone burned? No? Mr. Malfoy, will you be rejoining us? Anything broken?"

Draco stood, checking himself. "No, Professor, I'm…I'm fine." He looked around the room. "But…where is everybody?" Ted was still there, brushing debris off his robes, but several of his classmates who he swore had been there when his potion exploded were missing. Blaise Zabini's seat was empty and Draco could swear he'd been there at the start of class. And that Hufflepuff who shared Zabini's station, McMahon or whatever, he was gone as well. "Were they hurt?"

"What do you mean by 'everybody,' Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, erm, Zabini, sir. And McMahon. And…" Draco peered over his shoulder "…Weasley." A part of him had to smile at the lack of Weasley, but such an obvious absence was disconcerting.

"Mr. Malfoy, if you're making a joke, it's not funny."

"I'm not making a joke, sir." Draco felt his chest tighten. Why would he joke about missing classmates? More importantly, why did Slughorn think he was joking?

"Then return to your seat and be quiet for the rest of class. You know as well as the rest of us what happened to Zabini, McMillan, and Weasley, as well as the other members of this class."

_No, I don't!_ Draco thought. Last he knew, everyone in his class was accounted for, alive and well. What had that explosion done? If they'd been killed by his potion he would have at least seen their bodies. Was he responsible for their disappearance?

As per Slughorn's orders Draco kept his mouth shut for the rest of class but he couldn't concentrate on the lesson. He _knew_ he'd had more classmates an hour ago. Something was very wrong. Maybe Ted had a clue.

After they left class, Draco pulled Ted aside in the corridor.

"Ted, where did everyone go?"

"What do you mean, ‘everyone?’"

Draco rolled his eyes and groaned. "Don't you dare pull a Slughorn on me."

"I'm not pulling a Slughorn. Whatever that means."

"Look, just answer me. Where are Zabini and McMillan and Weasley? And…Potter."

Ted looked at Draco as though he'd just announced he'd like to perform a ballet in the middle of the hall. "You're joking, right?"

"No!" Surprised by how loud his protest seemed against the stone floors and walls, Draco lowered his voice. "Please. Just…tell me where they are."

Narrowing his eyes, Ted replied, "Zabini, McMillan, and Weasley are dead. They've been dead for the past three months. All of them. And Potter? You mean Harry Potter? I've heard of him, but he's nowhere near here right now. He's off at Durmstrang, where he's been since September. Really, Draco, what is wrong with you?"

What was wrong with Draco in that moment included nausea, tunnel vision, and weakness in his knees. He stumbled, and Ted caught him. "You're…you're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes." Ted helped Draco to his feet. "Do you need to go see Madam Pomfrey? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine. Really, I just… I, um, I hit my head when my cauldron exploded and I guess I'm having…flashbacks or… I don't know. Maybe I should go lie down for a bit."

"I'll walk you to the dormitory."

Draco didn't want Ted to escort him, but he also didn't want to walk the halls by himself. "Thanks."

They headed for the Slytherin dungeon and Draco asked, "Erm, Ted, if you don't mind my asking, how did they die?"

The look on Ted's face indicated that he'd rather not answer Draco's question. He sighed. "Word is Weasley and McMillan went like all the others. Zabini joined the Death Eaters, but there was Lupin's gang with the arrows and bottles of exploding venom."

"What? A gang? Why do they need arrows?" Ted gave the password and pulled Draco through the entrance of the Slytherin quarters.

"Wow, Draco, you must have hit your head pretty hard to forget everything that's happened in the past four months."

Draco felt like his stomach had just fallen through his knees, and he sat down on the nearest chair. "Four months?"

Ted pulled a large ottoman over to Draco's chair and sat facing Draco with his forearms on his thighs. "Are you sure you don't want to go see Madam Pomfrey?"

"I… I don't know. I mean, everything was fine until Potions this afternoon."

"Listen, why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off? I'll get your assignments. I'll meet you for dinner at five and curfew's at seven. I have to stop by the library and--"

Something didn't sound right to Draco. "Curfew?"

"You know. Ever since the Death Eaters broke into Hogwarts there's a seven o'clock curfew and head count for students? Don't you remember?"

Draco didn't remember but his lack of memory was becoming too much to explain to Ted. "Erm…yeah. Of course. Seven o'clock. Right."

No way in hell was Draco staying in the dorm tonight. He had to find out what was going on.

At dinner Draco barely ate anything, complained of a stomachache and reassured Ted that he would go straight to bed after head count. Half of that was true. Seeing all the empty seats in the Great Hall _did_ make Draco's stomach hurt. Clearly, many of his fellow students had gone the way of Zabini, McMillan, and Weasley. But how had they died? Who had killed them? He knew about the Death Eaters, but why were they attacking Hogwarts? Why now? What was…?

_His potion._ Everything had been fine until the explosion. His potion must have caused this. He remembered from Slughorn's lecture that the Desidario Draught was used to attract objects to ideas, but there was no way he could have gone so far off the recipe as to blast himself into an alternate reality. Until his cauldron blew up, Draco had been sure that he'd mixed everything perfectly. Closing his eyes, Draco replayed the class in his mind. He couldn't figure out where he'd gone wrong. The potion was just about the color it was supposed to be, wasn't smoking, wasn't bubbling more than it was supposed to. He'd stirred it clockwise, just like the directions said.

No, wait.

He remembered. He'd stirred the potion in the wrong direction and spoken a wish aloud. And now half his classmates were dead or missing. He wasn't sure how his simple wish and a slight miscalculation in potion-making had caused a disaster on this level, but he knew he somehow had to undo it.

He tapped Ted on the shoulder. "Listen, Ted, I'm going to head back to the common room. I'll see you later."

Ted looked worried. "Wait a minute and I'll walk you back."

“That’s okay. I’ll be fine. See you when you get back from the library.” Draco bolted from the table and ran out of the Great Hall. The corridors were empty of students and teachers and his footsteps echoed over the stone floors. Several portraits advised him to slow down and watch his step but he ran towards the entrance closest to the road that led to Hogsmeade.

Draco had no cloak or scarf and he was grateful that the weather, while damp, wasn’t too cold. The last blue of twilight was fading to night and stars were visible against the sky. The road to Hogsmeade was empty. Faraway shouts broke the oppressive silence. Draco wasn't sure where he was going, but he was certain that the answer to his missing memory was somewhere nearby and its most likely location was Hogsmeade. After all, he reasoned, if the danger was far from Hogwarts it was unlikely that they would have a curfew, or that so many of his classmates would be missing.

The dirt road became the high street in Hogsmeade, and Draco stood at the top of it looking into the village. The shops and pubs were dark for the most part. He could never tell if the Hog's Head was open or not, anyway. More disturbing than the lack of people was the presence of tortured sounds that seemed to come from the direction of The Three Broomsticks. He expected those kinds of sounds to come out of the Shrieking Shack, but a further study into the dark showed that not only was the shack quiet, it appeared deserted.

Draco's heart was pounding and his fingers wouldn't close all the way around the grip of his wand in his pocket. Was this where all his classmates had disappeared to? Were the sounds he heard related to the curfew at Hogwarts? The logical part of him told him to turn and run back to the castle but the part that was still sore from being thrown into a desk after his potion exploded wanted him to find answers. He walked slowly, quietly toward The Three Broomsticks. As he got closer he could see some damage to the sign over the front door. Orange light flickered through a grate over the front window.

He crouched down and tried to peer in the window. Hardly anything was visible inside. He was about to stand when he heard a rustle of cloth behind him.

He couldn't draw his wand in time.

_"Stupefy!"_

When Draco regained consciousness he was in a brightly lit room with concrete walls and no windows. He was seated in a plain wooden chair and his hands were bound behind him.

"That was a stupid thing you did, boy." The statement came from a tall, hooded figure in front of him. "Don't you know that curfew exists for a reason?"

"Oh, Amycus," said a second figure, "go easy on him. He was going to find out anyway. He's just a little early to the party, that's all."

A party? Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had conjured them all into Bizarroland and there were people throwing parties?

"Mmm. Perhaps we should show him around in the meantime," said Amycus. "It wouldn't be polite to have him as our guest and not give him the grand tour. Lucius and Narcissa would not be pleased if they found out we were being so rude to their son."

Draco blinked. His parents were in on this mess, too? Was he the only one who remembered the way things were supposed to be?

"So, Draco," said the second person, who he figured to be Alecto Carrow. "How would you like to take the grand tour?"

Draco was close to answering, "Preferably on a Firebolt, with a return to Hogwarts at the end," but he bit his tongue. Instead, he replied, "Erm, yes. Ma'am. Could you untie me first, though?"

"Sorry," Amycus replied. "Those restraints have to stay on."

"Brother, dear," whined Alecto, lifting her hood, "I'm getting a little bored now." She moved to stand behind Draco, opening the front of his robes. She tickled his collarbones and leaned down to run her tongue along the edge of his right ear. Draco sat paralyzed, half by fear and half by the heat building in his cock.

"Of course you are." Amycus shed his own hood. "But Alecto, really, you should leave some of young Mr. Malfoy for later."

The skin over Draco's spine tingled as Alecto traced patterns on the back of his neck with her sharp fingernails. "Oh, fine, then." He could hear a pout in her voice. "But I get him first."

"No, not tonight. You know the rules."

"Can't I play with him just a little?"

Amycus smiled and leaned down to kiss her over Draco's shoulder. Neither of them seemed to mind the fact that Draco was right there, watching. "A little. Don't forget what the Dark Lord's instructions are, though."

"Let's take him to the puppy!"

The mention of a puppy turned Draco's stomach. He could almost deal with the idea of them torturing other wizards. They at least had some chance at defending themselves. But a defenseless animal?

Amycus and Alecto took his left and right arms, respectively, and pulled him from the chair. They took him into a long room brightly lit by what seemed like a hundred white candles. Along the edge of the room were cages, and in the center was a long table. Draco barely had time to register what any of it was, or was for, when Alecto drew her wand and prodded him in the arm.

“Over there,” she said breathlessly. “The puppy!”

The Carrows dragged Draco into one of the cells and slammed the iron bars shut. They took the ties off Draco’s hands. The relief of circulation, though, was temporary.

“You’ll excuse us, Draco,” said Amycus as he chained Draco’s wrists into shackles above his head. Draco struggled against the metal locks but he knew the fight was pointless.

“The puppy tends to get overexcited when visitors are about.” Alecto’s voice was pitched near piercing. She shed her outer robe and Draco saw she was wearing tight trousers and a black corset with a burgundy ruffle at the top. It didn’t look too comfortable, but the way the corset exaggerated the curve of her waist and hips made his breath catch.

Amycus stepped out of Draco’s line of sight. Now Draco could see that “the puppy” was not a dog at all, but a man with black hair kneeling in a ball on the floor, shirtless, thin to the point that Draco could count his vertebrae, with marks on his back that looked like burns. Draco felt his stomach churn at the sight. Was that what they were going to do to him? Alecto knelt beside the man and lifted his chin. Draco dropped his jaw in horror. _Snape_. Guilt made Draco’s bones feel like lead. He was responsible for this. But what had Snape done in this reality to warrant such torture?

“Severus thought he could outsmart the lot of us,” Alecto explained, standing. Tracing over the scars on Snape’s back, she continued, “Playing both sides is the fastest way to lose the game. Silly puppy. He has to pay for it now.” She drew her hand back and as she brought it down Draco saw her wand turn into a long whip. The cracking sound it made as it crossed Snape’s back sounded like thunder to Draco. Snape kept his head down and said nothing; Draco marveled inwardly at Snape’s resolve. Or, Draco figured, it might just be weariness. He wanted to look away but found he couldn't.

"Alecto," said Amycus, "we shouldn't ignore our guest. Would you like to entertain him or shall I?"

Draco stopped himself just before he retorted, "I'm quite entertained enough, thank you."

Alecto, still holding the whip, walked over to Draco. "I want this one."

The moment she stated her decision, everything else around Draco seemed to disappear. Her proximity blurred the lines between his senses. The scent of her skin was deafening, the heat from her fingers blinding. Draco twisted in his chains but they didn't budge. He closed his eyes, waiting for her to kiss him, but she sank her teeth into his neck instead. Surprised, he let out a yell and opened his eyes to find Amycus laughing at him. Alecto opened the front of his robes, baring his chest. She opened her mouth again, showing Draco her teeth, and he backed away as far as his restraints would allow.

"Once bitten, twice shy?" she asked him, pulling his head to the side by his hair, exposing the welt she'd made on his neck. Licking along her marks, she said, "Being shy is a terrible way to meet girls." The whip was folded in half in her hand and she traced the loop over his nipples, down his sternum to the waistband of his trousers. Gooseflesh stood on his chest and he sucked in his stomach.

"Now, Draco, you're making this too easy." Alecto reached for his belt, opening it and letting the ends hang. "If I didn't know any better I'd swear you wanted this."

"No, I… I…" Draco couldn't muster the breath to form his protest. He looked up and instantly regretted doing so. Amycus was kneeling behind Snape, who was on all fours and naked.

Amycus caught Draco looking at him. "Don't worry, young master Malfoy. The puppy likes this."

"Let… Let him go," Draco panted.

"Ohhh, but that wouldn't be any fun," whined Alecto, transforming the whip back into her wand. She stuck it in the back of her trousers and unzipped Draco's fly. "This is fun, though," she said, smiling as she knelt and took Draco's cock in her mouth.

Draco had no words. He moaned, closed his eyes, and pressed his back into the wall. He couldn't have been in any place less conducive to pleasure but there it was, enveloping him. In the distance he heard Amycus taunting Snape, calling him names as he fucked him. Alecto held tight to his left hip with one hand and took his balls in the other, running her tongue over the head of his cock, sucking fluid. The warm, moist touch of her mouth made Draco feel like he was melting, that the chains at his wrists were the only things holding him upright. He tried to thrust forward but she held him fast, trailing her tongue back and licking around each of his balls.

Despite the pain in his wrists and arms Draco felt content, relaxed, until a loud bang broke through his thoughts.

Everyone in the cell turned to look in the direction of the sound.

"Lupin," growled Amycus.

"He always shows up at the most inopportune times," Alecto replied with a sigh. She stood and drew her wand.

Draco withdrew from the haze of her tongue around his cock. "Lupin?" As in his former teacher? "What's he doing here?"

Amycus kicked Snape to the side and said, "Causing trouble." He pulled his robes shut and readied his wand.

"Hey, I'm still..." Draco shouted after them, but he knew it was pointless. Great. He'd heard the phrase "getting caught with your pants down" before but he hadn't expected to actually live it in front of one of his former teachers. He struggled futilely against his bonds. His wand was in his back pocket and he wondered whose cruel joke that was, to let him have it but keep it so far out of his reach. People he didn't recognize ran past him and he twisted his hips away from the front grate of the cell.

"Draco," came a dry whisper from behind him.

Draco turned his head in the direction of the whisper and saw Snape standing hunched over with one hand on the wall next to Draco's ribs.

"Professor!" The word was out of Draco before he realized that it was entirely possible Snape had never been a professor in this reality. "Erm…sir, what…you shouldn't be standing! Are you all right?"

Snape said nothing but reached to zip Draco's trousers and fasten his belt.

"Thank you." Looking up into Snape's face, he asked, "Any chance you can get me out of these chains?"

"You're lucky the Carrows were interrupted." Snape's voice was grave, rasping. He reached into Draco's back pocket, retrieved Draco's wand, and tapped the shackles.

With his arms free, Draco took a few deep breaths. "You're... Thanks. Again." He looked out at the mayhem. Taking Snape's hand in his left and his wand in his right, he said, "Come on. I'm going to get you back to Hogwarts."

"No."

"No? Sir, they'll kill you here."

"Not before they kill you. Go." Snape pushed Draco towards the open door of the cell. Stunning Spells were flying right and left. A wizard in torn, patched robes ducked a jet of red light, stumbled, and caught himself on the bars. He turned to look over his shoulder, and Draco's knees went weak.

"Professor Lupin!"

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Professor?"

Draco didn't feel like explaining. "We have to help Professor Snape. Please. We…" Draco remembered something Ted had said earlier. "Harry Potter. He's at Durmstrang but he needs to be here. I... I can't explain it, but things will be better with him here."

"Thank you for stating so astutely what we've known for some time, Mr. Malfoy. He's on his way to Hogsmeade right now, via Portkey."

"The Carrows mentioned a party."

"Set for tomorrow night-- _Stupefy!_ " Lupin twisted around to Stun a Death Eater heading for their cell. "Lord Voldemort has found a way to siphon magic from wizards. He plans to take it from those he deems non-pureblooded first."

"How come you know all this and I don't?"

"I don't know. But this is not the time to discuss it. Either fight or get out of here." The sound of smashing glass filled the basement rooms.

"Come on." Draco put his arm around Snape's waist.

"You'll never make it out of here with him," Lupin said with a warning tone in his voice.

"I can't leave him here!"

"For now, you have to."

"Will you…make sure he's okay?"

"Go!"

Draco hesitated, but only for a moment. He headed for the stairs at the far end of the room, running faster than he ever had in his life. All the Death Eaters must have been in the basement fighting Lupin and his gang of white hats because what used to be the public area of The Three Broomsticks was deserted. He didn't dare light his wand, so he had to make his way back towards Hogwarts in the dark.

On his way up the high street he collided with someone.

_"Stupe-"_

_"PROTEGO!"_ Draco shouted with all the speed and strength he possessed. The light at the edge of his shield illuminated a boy his age with dark hair.

"Potter!"

"You…how do you know who I am?" Potter didn't lower his wand.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I know you're here with Lupin. I only just got away from the Carrows." Draco threw out any information he thought might keep Potter from hexing him. He prayed it worked.

"You know Lupin?"

"Yes," replied Draco, exasperated. "I'm on my way to Hogwarts right now to help him."

"How can I be sure?"

"Potter, you are just as dense in this reality as you are in the other one!" Draco hissed.

"What?"

"Listen, they need you in there. Go. A lot of people are depending on you." _But not as many as are depending on me,_ he added silently.

Potter nodded and walked past Draco towards the pub.

"Potter?"

He stopped and turned.

"It's good to see you. But don't get used to hearing me say that."

Before Potter could respond, Draco turned and ran.

When he arrived back in the castle he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and hoped it was enough to get past any teachers who were patrolling the halls. He was able to make it to the Slytherin common room without anyone noticing, but it was empty. Ted was asleep in the dormitory but woke up to the sound of Draco rifling through his bag.

"Whutre you doin'?"

"I have to remake the potion we were making this afternoon. I… I made a complete mess of it."

Ted lit his wand and squinted at Draco. "Right now?"

"Yes, right now!" Draco found his Potions textbook and flipped to the recipe. "I think… I think I can fix all the deaths that have been occurring, but if I don't do this now I don't know when I'll have another chance."

"Do you need help?"

"No, I…"

But in order to recreate the exact conditions under which he'd wished them all into Hell, Draco realized, Ted would have to be there, too. "Yes. Come on."

Ted climbed out of bed and pulled a gray dressing gown over his pajamas. "Someday you're going to owe me for this."

"I know."

Together, Draco and Ted ran for the Potions classroom, which was locked. Ted pulled out his wand, but Draco held Ted's wrist for a moment.

"What?" whispered Ted.

"Shh, listen." Draco heard footsteps growing closer and feared Slughorn noticed they were out of bed. The voice that accompanied the footsteps, however, made Draco wish it was Slughorn following them.

"That wasn't a very nice thing your little friend Potter did to Amycus and Alecto," said Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Open the door!" cried Draco.

_"Alohomora!"_

Once he and Ted were through the door, they bolted it and Ted yelled, _"Colloportus!"_

"How much time do we have before she comes through that door?" asked Draco as he set up his cauldron.

"Probably not enough. What does she mean, Potter?" Ted searched the shelves at the side of the classroom for ingredients as Draco lit the fire. "Does she mean _Harry_ Potter?"

"Yes. He… he's here to help the people who are trying to stop the deaths. Please don't talk to me." Draco couldn't talk to Ted and think at the same time.

Bellatrix's spells were steadily battering the door. Draco took a deep breath and stirred ingredients together. Ideally he could recreate the exact mixture he'd made at the time he'd made his wish, but he wasn't sure he had the time.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Ted.

"What were you doing this afternoon when my potion blew up?"

"Sitting across from you and thinking about how nice it would be if Slughorn _and_ McGonagall _and_ Flitwick all had Memory Charms backfire and forgot to assign our homework."

"Perfect." Draco checked the recipe and added clary sage. "Sit across from me and think on that. Oh, and be ready to Stun whatever comes through that door."

"Are you going to tell me why you're doing this?"

Red light streaked past Ted through a hole in the door. "I… I think I did something terrible when we were in class this afternoon. It was an accident, and I'm trying to correct it."

"What kind of an accident? I mean, I remember the explosion."

Draco smiled in triumph when he stirred the potion and it turned blue. His happiness was short-lived, however, when Bellatrix burst in the door.

Ted was ready. _"Stupefy!"_

Bellatrix fell where she stood.

"That spell doesn't hold forever," warned Ted.

"I don't need it to. I should be done in a few minutes. Keep your wand on her. I think my potion exploding sent us all into an alternate reality."

"The Desidario Draught can't do that!"

"Yeah, well, mine apparently can. And I made a wish while I was stirring it and my wish sent everything all haywire. So I'm trying to set this right. Wait…listen."

They both held their breath and above the bubbling of the potion Draco could hear footsteps. He didn't know who was about to come through that door, but he had a feeling it wasn't someone who wanted to help him.

"You hear that?" he asked Ted.

"Yeah. But Draco, if there are more than one or two of them I don't know how many spells I'll be able to get off." He ran for the door to make some quick repairs to it, but it was clear that the door had been severely weakened by Bellatrix's attack.

"Whatever you can do is fine. But come back here. I need you sitting right where you were for this afternoon's explosion.

"How do you know?" Ted asked after he sat down. "How do you know that the world you remember is any better than this?"

Draco knew he didn’t have much time. He had to stir the potion with his wand and that would leave him defenseless for the time it took him to perform the stirring. He couldn't count on Ted to hold off any of the Death Eaters who came through that door. Already Bellatrix was beginning to stir and he figured he didn't have more than about ten seconds before she hexed both of them.

Solemn and exhausted, he replied, "Because it has to be."

He stirred quickly, counterclockwise once, twice, three times and whispered, "I wish everything was the way I remember it."

There was the familiar flash of pale blue light and Draco braced himself for the impact of the explosion. But instead of being thrown across the room he felt an intense, suffocating pressure on his body, like he was being pressed between a set of stone walls. He was worried he might not survive to see the effects of his reversing the spell and struggled to keep conscious. As black spots overtook his vision the blue light suddenly faded and he found himself sitting at his cauldron in Potions, stirring the mixture with his wand.

"I wish Harry Potter had never come to Hogwarts," Draco said.

"That would be fantastic," Ted replied, smiling.

"No, I wish Harry Potter had never been _born_."

"Done!" declared Ted with a giggle.

"And that Hermione Granger would wake up tomorrow morning and forget how to read. And that… that Weasley would belch slugs again for an entire day, and..."

_end_


End file.
